


Live Wire

by OMGitsgreen



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Extension, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Will Solace feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 02:58:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10295897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OMGitsgreen/pseuds/OMGitsgreen
Summary: “No I don't trust him, not really,” Will answered, trying to smile to soothe Nico’s worries, but finding it ill-fitting he chose to just let it fall from him lips. “Or at least, I won’t get my hopes up. I can hope that Apollo wants to get Kayla and Austin back, but how the heck am I supposed to know what he’s thinking?”After Kayla and Austin disappear, Will reflects upon his relationship with his father, and both Will and Apollo find common ground in loving their family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like in ToA, though Apollo had moments with both Kayla and Austin, his scenes with Will left something to be wanted (after all, Apollo called him a live wire under calm for a reason). So here is a canon-compliant canon extension of the Will and Apollo scene I think all of us wanted in The Hidden Oracle (with of course an extra dash of Solangelo and best big bro Will for all of you). This also has some call backs to my Will Solace backstory (my fic Like Matchsticks), but you don't need to read it to understand!
> 
> Enjoy!

Everything was in working order. Valentina’s arm was set, shrapnel was pulled from flesh, veins were closed and infection was warded off from puncture wounds. Will moved, hitting his beats, steadying everyone in his rhythm. His moved his orchestra of healers in a well-timed movement. Will went on and on, a concerto written for himself. The infirmary was his stage, and he was the conductor and the first chair. It did Will better to be working than to stop and think about anything. Everything was far more manageable when he wasn’t thinking about anything and instead just working. Will just needed to do, he needed to be in control of everything he possibly could be. By doing that, he may have well have been in charge of the whole world.

Or at least he was until he suddenly stumbled, vision blurring for a moment. Panic rose to the surface as Austin’s name rose to his lips because he had stepped off beat and Austin always knew when to pick up from where Will left off. Instead, Nico’s cool hand steadied him, and he handed Will a canteen of nectar which Will took a swig from. He forced the sudden leaping of his pulse down.

“Chiron, Will needs a break. I’m taking him for an hour, do you think you can hold down the fort?” Nico called to Chiron before Will could even think to protest, his voice sounding distant even though he was standing right next to him.

“Alright, we can handle everything. I’m going to disband everyone to their cabins shortly,” Chiron answered before Will could protest, giving Will a look of warning.

“Will do,” Nico said before forcibly dragging Will off before he could argue, though Will’s eyes were on Apollo as he seemed to settle himself towards the entrance of the woods with Meg. Will heard the annoyed sound rise from his chest before he registered it was his. Nico’s fingers were still entwined with his, and in the lowlight his eyes had taken on the hue of the blue-black winter sky.

“Will?” Nico asked as he paused at the door of Cabin Seven.

“Are they alive?” Will croaked. For a moment Nico closed his eyes, his features smoothed as for a moment the shadows seemed to pull and contract at the walls. Where Will probably looked frazzled and bloodstained, Nico looked as calm on the surface as an undisturbed lake with his powers swirling beneath his still skin.

Nico opened his eyes, and they had returned to a neutral pale. The movement was unhurried as his lashes fluttered and gaze refocused, as if returning from the depth of his powers was like awakening from a long sleep.

“They’re alive. I can’t tell where they are, but they are alive I promise,” Nico reported, before reaching over to press a kiss to Will’s mouth. Will leaned against the kiss, lips against lips, using warmth to scatter the shadows that had welled up and cooled him down. Will stumbled back, the slightest use of his powers tiring. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just tired,” Will said quietly.

“It’s more than that,” Nico said astutely as he reached over to steady him.

“I just…it’s Apollo.”

“You don’t trust him, Will?” Nico asked Will quietly. “Gods know, I know what it’s like not to trust a godly father. But I know he wants to get Kayla and Austin back.”

“No I don't trust him, not really,” Will answered, trying to smile to soothe Nico’s worries, but finding it ill-fitting he chose to just let it fall from him lips. “Or at least, I won’t get my hopes up. I can hope that he wants to get Kayla and Austin back, but how the heck am I supposed to know what he’s thinking?”

“Will, you can’t just try to manage your expectations with something like this. I learned that the hard way,” Nico warned him, and for some reason as he looked at Nico and saw his brother and sister, and saw the hope in their eyes when Apollo had appeared. Something inside of him cracked, splintered, and pierced his heart.

“I’ve been managing my expectations of our father since I was thirteen and I got a letter—my last letter from Apollo in which he called me the man of the cabin. Are you kidding me? Our brother was dead, people were hurt, a war had just ended and I was a kid and supposed to also be the parent and get everyone through that. And I did it, no help from him and not for him. I did it because I love all of my siblings more than I could ever hate him. But it’s the principle of it—that’s his problem really! His perspective is skewed, he doesn’t get it because he’s as perceptive, sensitive, and empathetic as a two by four. Demigods can still be children, they aren’t mutually exclusive. So yeah, I’m going to manage my expectations. I’ll set the bar low and hopefully he’ll approach the standard. But yeah, I have no hope and if him being here puts my siblings in danger I’d rather him be gone. I know they had moments with him—gods they were so happy to finally meet him—and I don’t want to cheapen those memories they’ll have now or take those away from them I just—“ Will felt suddenly a sob attempting to burst past his teeth. He barely managed to swallow it back. He was under the weight again, feeling a whole house burying him alive, reaching desperately and trying to save someone but being too weak—

“I’m sorry,” Will tried to say, but his voice cracked, suddenly his knees hit the ground but the pain was distant. “I just didn’t want them to get hurt. They’re gone and I can’t…I can’t protect them I—“

“Will,” Nico said, wrapping his arm around Will as best as he could but it felt so distant. “Will, it’s okay.”

“Nothing about this is okay,” Will suddenly sobbed, burying his face in his trembling hands. “It’s happening all over again. I’m losing everyone, I should be with them.”

“You haven’t lost me, and you haven’t lost the rest of us. We’ll get everyone back, I promise.”

For a while they just sat there, Will taking comfort from Nico’s presence, their heads leaned together close and sharing warmth. He could feel Nico’s heartbeat, a steady and calming rhythm thrumming in his throat and wrist. Will couldn’t help but smile as Nico intertwined their fingers.

Apollo appeared at the doorway.

“I’ll give you guys some space,” Nico said, leaning over to kiss Will’s forehead before leaving. “I’ll talk to you later.”

It was only them, and neither of them seemed to know what to do.

“…Will,” Apollo said, looking pale, slightly trembling and damp from the cold. Will immediately rummaged through his drawers and pulled out a dry shirt and a sweatshirt.

“Here,” Will said weakly, and Apollo looked at the offerings in his hands as if he were deeply touched, as if that small action had given him more satisfaction than anything else could have. Before Apollo could open his mouth, Will said, “I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. I probably wasn’t being fair to you.” 

“Even in this instance, when you have every right to be angry at me, you choose instead to apologize,” Apollo said as he pulled on the new clothes and sat on an empty cot. “That says a lot about you, Will.”

“What?”

“You are a good person, and I can’t take credit for that…as much as I would like to think that everything that is related to me is good because of my involvement,” Apollo said as he palmed the back of his neck.

“As much as I enjoy your continual belief in your awesomeness, was there a point to this conversation?” Will asked, unable to help his bitterness from seeping into his voice.

“Ah, yes,” Apollo said searching the room, before looking Will in the eyes. “I will get them back. Somehow, Will. I will save them. I won’t let them suffer because of my mistakes.”

“Is this you taking responsibility?”

“…responsibility. I never liked the idea, but I’m finding the notion more important the longer I’m in the meatsuit,” Apollo admitted as he motioned to his whole self. “But yes. This is my fault, and I’m going to take responsibility and save them.”

“Your promises don’t mean much to me, Apollo,” Will admitted as he stood up and crossed the room, and he placed a hand on his shoulder. A small part of him, the desperate child begging to be loved, wanted to hug him. But Will held back, under his calm and his love there was a live wire bare and sparking and ready to ignite. “But gods, I want them to. Please? Bring them back. I’ll do everything in my power to help you, but please, you have to bring them back.”

“I’ll do everything in my power. Believe in me—” Apollo said, for a moment it looked like he was about to call Will “my son”, but Apollo held back.

“Take whatever you need, I’ll…see what I can do,” Will said, and Apollo crossed over to grab some of the books Will had painstakingly bookmarked.

“Do you mind if I…take these? My memory has been blurry,” Apollo admitted, and Will swallowed. Apollo was actually admitting his weakness to him.

“Of course.”

“…sleep well, Will. I’m going to go wait by the woods…just in case.”

“Okay. Be safe.”

Will felt as if both of them were holding back, but that was enough for now. Neither of them would push what they had just stumbled into. And so Apollo closed the door behind him, and Will settled down for a restless night.

* * *

_In his dreams, he sat with Kayla in the syrupy summer sunlight. The air was thick, and the dreamlike fog had overtaken most of the scenery. They could have been on the green or in the forest, but either way it wouldn’t have mattered. He painstakingly combed the burs from Kayla’s hair with his fingertips, sending his magic to soothe her cuts and bruises._

_“You should be more careful, Kayla,” Will warned her, content with his work as he began to braid Kayla’s hair in a gentle twist._

_“Careful means not winning, and I hate losing against those twins,” Kayla huffed._

_“Right, right,” Will said, taking the hair tie that Kayla offered from her wrist. He patted her shoulder what he was done, but to his surprise Kayla leaned against him. “What’s up?”_

_“Well…I was just thinking since I met Jules-Albert. Hades seems really involved with Nico…but… have you ever met dad?”_

_“…no. I’ve only seen him once, during the Battle of Manhattan,” Will admitted. “And it’s not like he saw me or anything. I just saw him driving his chariot into battle.”_

_“Do you think he doesn’t care about us?” Kayla asked him softly, not facing Will, and curling her arms around her legs. She perched her chin on her knees._

_“I don’t know,” Will admitted. “I think that it’s different. We don’t have the fates of worlds on our shoulders, K. We aren’t all the Percy Jacksons or Sevens of the world.”_

_“What’s the point of being a demigod if you aren’t going to be the Percy Jackson of the world?” Kayla asked as she smoothed out her hair._

_“The point is you’ll be the Kayla Knowles, and you’ll have been my little sister, and one day you’ll end up being in the Olympics and I’ll be the proudest big bro in the world,” Will promised her firmly. “I’m thankful to Apollo just for that.”_

_“Hey Will?”_

_“Yeah, K?”_

_“I don’t know if you know this, but me and Austin and the rest of us don’t come back to camp to have a chance at meeting Apollo, we come back for you. You love us no matter what, and that’s enough,” Kayla promised him back, turning to offer Will an unsteady and gentle smile in return. Will felt his eye burn._

_“You’re gonna make me cry,” Will admitted, his accent thickening as he rubbed at his face._

_“Aw man, I didn’t mean to make you cry!” Kayla said as she reached over to help rub his face with her sleeve._

_“Kayla, what did you say to make Will cry?” Austin asked, plodding over from the fog and settling down next to both him and Kayla._

_“I just love you guys a lot is all,” Will told them both._

_Both Kayla and Austin smiled the smile they all shared, the one Apollo must have given them._

* * *

Apollo later rested his hand on Will’s shoulder. The combat ukulele slung on his back, bandana tied around his wrist.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be back by dawn,” Apollo promised Will, in his gaze determination and honesty, and a love that for once Will didn’t doubt.

“How can you be so sure?” Will couldn’t help but ask, his mouth trembling with fear.

“I’m the sun god,” Apollo said, trying to hide his fear, and still Will felt warmth run through him because in that moment it was enough. “I always return at dawn.”


End file.
